Anthony Weiner sexting scandal: why are wives political assets and husbands political liabilities?

Anthony Weiner, the New York mayoral candidate, is embroiled in a fresh
sexting scandal. Once again, his long suffering wife, Huma Abedin, is
standing by her man. Dr Brooke Magnanti explores why wives are
perceived to be such an asset during political campaigns.

Miss Abedin had never spoken at a press conference before Tuesday eveningPhoto: AP

That's Weiner, in case you hadn't heard - the ex-congressman from New York and current NYC mayoral candidate laid low by a sexting scandal. Who has to no one's surprise been caught out yet again sending nude shots to young ladies. With his wife a constant presence on the campaign trail, one wonders how he finds the time.

Abedin read from a prepared statement. "It took a lot of work and a whole lot of therapy to get to a place where I could forgive Anthony," she said. "It was not an easy choice in any way, but I made the decision that it was worth staying in this marriage.

"We discussed all of this before he decided to run for mayor, so really what I want to say is, I love him, I have forgiven him, I believe in him."

Huma Abedin has been a fixture in the inner circle of Hillary Clinton since she arrived at the White House as a 19-year-old intern in 1996

Meanwhile Silda Spitzer is nowhere to be seen, preferring to avoid the limelight after a turn 'standing by her man' back in 2008. Hmm… maybe Mrs Spitzer is on to something? Both, in any case, did not take the option to walk when their men's sexual extracurriculars hit the headlines.

Maybe they really believe that if their wives forgive them (or appear to), then voters will have no choice but to follow suit.

Political husbands, by contrast, are more successfully neither seen nor heard. Think for example of Theresa May's husband, er, what's-his-name, or Harriet Harman's hubby. You wouldn't know either of these blokes if you ran over them with a car. That's possibly because visible political husbands are more often a liability, be they gin-o'clock stalwart Denis Thatcher or Julia Gillard's partner, whose sexuality was frequently questioned in spite of their obviously committed relationship. You could say the best model of for a successful political marriage is The Invisible Man. Even Bill Clinton rarely hits the campaign trail on Hilary's behalf.

And the few women in politics who have weathered accusations of not-entirely-straightforward private lives rarely make their partners do the walk of shame on their behalf. You don't often see Nadine Dorries trotting out her other half, for example. It probably wouldn't add much to public perception of her if she did.

I have no particular problem either with Weiner's wiener or with Spitzer's sex workers, apart from the hypocrisy involved when (in Spitzer's case) a man who liked to be known as "Mr Clean" spent public funds on hotel rooms where he met women for sex. Rather as ever, I'm shocked by the apparent belief these men have that anything they do wouldn't be found out.

Your common-or-garden spouse playing away can usually manage to cover up affairs better than this. Weiner was first caught out posting selfies on Twitter and Spitzer by a federal wiretap; have these guys never heard of getting a pay-as-you-go phone and anonymised email? It's like David Petraeus all over again. And then having made their wives do the strong-and-supportive nonsense once, force them to go through the motions twice?

Once upon a time, I was involved with a man who not only was messing around on me, but was a terrible liar. And that more than anything was what hurt. Not the sleeping around - hey, I was too - but the fact that he wasn't better at hiding it, and couldn't apologise effectively when caught out. For goodness sake fellas, buttering up the missus should be job number one. You've already spent years polishing your lines with the constituency: your wives deserve at least that much.